Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo quickly moved to capitalize on all the attention of the team's AFC championship game win. He called a 4 a.m. message to marriage-equality advocate Brian Ellner and a representative of hip hop mogul Russell Simmons his "Jerry Maguire email," according to the New York Times.

Ayanbadejo wrote: “Is there anything I can do for marriage equality or anti- bullying over the next couple of weeks to harness this Super Bowl media?” The time stamp on the email was 3:40:35 A.M.

On the phone Tuesday afternoon, Ayanbadejo called that missive his “Jerry Maguire email,” referring to the Tom Cruise movie, in which the plot is set in motion when Maguire, played by Cruise, seizes the occasion of a sleepless night to pour his heart and soul into a mission statement.

“It’s one of those times when you’re really passionate and in your zone,” Ayanbadejo told me, referring to Maguire’s movie moment and to his own real-life one, in the wee hours of Monday morning. “And I got to thinking about all kinds of things, and I thought: how can we get our message out there?”

The road to Super Bowl Sunday is two weeks long and comes with more than a few moments in front of the national media. The exposure leads to stories like this one, which ratchet up attention on the big game.

It's a mutually beneficial arrangement, in which the media allows itself to be "harnessed" in exchange for filling up two weeks of air and Web time. Ayanbadejo's quest has been quickly picked up by national outlets and is one of the game's most intriguing off-the-field storylines.

After the game, if the Ravens win, is an even better chance for Ayanbadejo to spread his message.

His goal? To sit down with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

“That’s my ultimate goal after the Super Bowl,” Ayanbadejo told the Times. “To go on Ellen’s show, to be dancing with her, to bust a move with her.”